<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Watching It Burn by eating-mooncakes (Catherine_Mooncakes)</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27183938">Watching It Burn</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catherine_Mooncakes/pseuds/eating-mooncakes'>eating-mooncakes (Catherine_Mooncakes)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Burns, Canon Compliant (Almost), F/M, Fire, Song: Burn (Hamilton), Songfic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 03:21:48</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,322</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27183938</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catherine_Mooncakes/pseuds/eating-mooncakes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Jolie finds out Brant is in the Neverseen and goes to confront him.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Brant/Jolie Ruewen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Watching It Burn</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>The lyrics (bold and italicized) are from the song Burn by Lin-Manuel Miranda; I do not own them. Some parts of them have been omitted for story flow.</p><p>Canon compliant except for one thing: Jolie did not destroy the letters Brant sent her, as we know from Sophie's discovery of them in Everblaze.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b> <em>I saved every letter you wrote me</em> </b>
</p><p>In a Black Swan cave, far from civilization, Jolie clutched a fragile page in her hand, watching her tears bleed across the scarlet ink.</p><p>
  <b> <em>From the moment I read them</em> </b>
</p><p>A sob racked her thin frame. She crumpled the letter in her hand and tossed it next to her, burying her face in her hands.</p><p>
  <b> <em>I knew you were mine</em> </b>
</p><p><em> What if we shared it? </em> Six-year-old Brant’s giggly voice echoed in her mind. <em> We can take turns with him! </em></p><p>
  <b> <em>You said you were mine</em> </b>
</p><p>20-year-old Brant’s handwriting scrawled across a page. <em> The spark, the kindling, the flame that never dies. </em></p><p>
  <b> <em>I thought you were mine</em> </b>
</p><p>Jolie pulled herself up and tore the next letter in two, the sharp sound biting the thick air.</p><p>
  <b> <em>Do you know what Angelica said</em> </b>
</p><p>Jolie shook her head at the letters, tears blurring her vision. She had fought for them. She had fought for <em> him </em>. So that they could be together.</p><p>
  <b> <em>When we saw your first letter arrive?</em> </b>
</p><p>
  <em> Edaline squeezed her hand and stared into her eyes. “My love, you know that you’ll always be a bad match. He’s Talentless.” </em>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>She said</em> </b>
</p><p>
  <em> “Let them talk.” Jolie clutched her first letter from Brant to her chest tightly. “I love him, Mom.” </em>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>“Be careful with that one, love,</em> </b>
</p><p>Jolie crushed another letter in her hand, the delicate turquoise page crumpling beyond repair.</p><p>
  <b> <em>He will do what it takes to survive</em> </b>
</p><p>He was… a traitor.</p><p>
  <b> <em>You and your words flooded my senses</em> </b>
</p><p>Jolie grasped one of the torches lining the cave walls and lit a letter on fire.</p><p>
  <b> <em>Your sentences left me defenseless</em> </b>
</p><p>No longer.</p><p>
  <b> <em>You built me palaces out of paragraphs</em> </b>
</p><p>The fire licked up the first page, devouring it hungrily. Jolie wished the memories would burn with it.</p><p>
  <b> <em>You built cathedrals</em> </b>
</p><p>She would let it go. She would let it all go. He would never lie to her again.</p><p>
  <b> <em>I’m re-reading the letters you wrote me</em> </b>
</p><p>A line from the next letter caught her eye. <em> I will love you until the last star in the sky fades away. </em></p><p>
  <b> <em>I’m searching and scanning for answers</em> </b>
</p><p>Why had he done it? Had they all been empty promises, empty words that he had written to betray her?</p><p>
  <b> <em>In every line</em> </b>
</p><p>The fire finished destroying the first letter, leaving a small pile of ash and a scorch mark on the hard stone.</p><p>
  <b> <em>For some kind of sign</em> </b>
</p><p>She thought he had loved her. She thought they would last forever. She had borne the scorn, borne the ridicule, for them.</p><p>
  <b> <em>And when you were mine</em> </b>
</p><p>He had promised they were meant to be. She had believed him. She had thought they had “true love.”</p><p>
  <b> <em>The world seemed to</em> </b>
</p><p>What a fool she had been. True love didn’t exist. It never had.</p><p>
  <b> <em>Burn</em> </b>
</p><p>She shoved the rest of the letters into a pile, lighting them </p><p>
  <b> <em>Burn</em> </b>
</p><p>When they had been together, when he had been hers… She would’ve done anything for him. Anything to stay together. And now he had torn them apart.</p><p>
  <b> <em>You and your words, obsessed with your legacy</em> </b>
</p><p>As the last of the letters burned away, her heart burning with them, she knew she had to do something. But if she told someone, he would be exiled, have his mind broken, be reduced to an insane, slobbery mess in Exile.</p><p>
  <b> <em>Your sentences border on senseless</em> </b>
</p><p>She hung the torch up and stamped one of her black boots on the remains of the fire. She wouldn’t let that happen to him.</p><p>
  <b> <em>And you are paranoid in every paragraph</em> </b>
</p><p>If she had ever loved him, she couldn’t do that to him.</p><p>
  <b> <em>How they perceive you</em> </b>
</p><p>There was only one thing to do. One way to save him. She had to convince him to leave.</p><p>
  <b> <em>You, you, you</em> </b>
</p><p>She slowly turned away from the mess and then, in a flurry, ran out of the cave into the biting wind.</p><p>
  <b> <em>I’m erasing myself from the narrative</em> </b>
</p><p>She remembered her diary and prayed that she could give it a happy ending.</p><p>
  <b> <em>Let future historians wonder how Eliza</em> </b>
</p><p>She held the home crystal up to one of the last rays of daylight. No. She would never tell. She would stop him, and no one would ever have to know.</p><p>
  <b> <em>Reacted when you broke her heart</em> </b>
</p><p>Home… had she ever viewed being with him that way?</p><p>
  <b> <em>You have torn it all apart</em> </b>
</p><p>It was as if she were in a daze, arriving at the palace he lived in, spires piercing the indigo sky. She knew why he had done it. He was forever branded Talentless, unable to advance. But he had made a mistake.</p><p>
  <b> <em>I am watching it</em> </b>
</p><p>She ran into the tower—door unlocked, like always, the fool—blonde braid trailing behind her. Where could he be? She continued through the kitchen and threw open the door that led to his bedroom.</p><p>
  <b> <em>Burn</em> </b>
</p><p>“Jolie?” Brant stood in the dim room. The only light came from a couple of windows.“What are you doing here?” He examined her, taking in her tear stained cheeks, her messy hair, the crystal in her hand. She ran up to him.</p><p>
  <b> <em>Watching it burn</em> </b>
</p><p>“Brant. I…” Jolie swallowed. “I know everything. I know who you are. I know that you’re part of the Neverseen. And... It’s not safe for you to be a part of it. I don’t think you understand what they want to do, who they want to destroy.”</p><p>
  <b> <em>You forfeit all rights to my heart</em> </b>
</p><p>Every muscle in Brant’s body stiffened. “How did you find out?” His voice was sharp. Sharper than he had ever spoken to her with before.</p><p>
  <b> <em>You forfeit the place in our bed</em> </b>
</p><p>Jolie jumped back. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is you. Brant, I’m begging you to leave. Right now. If you don’t leave, I… I’ll leave you.”</p><p>
  <b> <em>You’ll sleep in your office instead</em> </b>
</p><p>A flame suddenly sprung from Brant’s fingers, licking them, but not burning. Jolie scrambled backwards, hunching her shoulders.</p><p>It was the first time she had seen his flames.</p><p>“You know about this now.” Brant’s voice was beginning to shake. He stared into the flame as though it held the answers. “And… you’ll still be with me if I leave now? You’ll stay with me.”</p><p>
  <b> <em>With only the memories</em> </b>
</p><p>“Yes! I will!” Jolie took a step forward, feeling the heat of the flames, desperation choking her. “If you leave now, we can work this out together.”</p><p>The flames began to climb higher, reddening with his face. He stared at them for a moment longer. “Jolie. You don’t understand. I’m doing this for you. I’m going to save you.”</p><p>
  <b> <em>Of when you were mine</em> </b>
</p><p>“This isn’t the way to do it, Brant! People in the Neverseen, they aren’t working for good! They’re working to destroy others! They’re evil!”</p><p>She regretted the words the instant they were out of his mouth. Brant, who had been told his entire life that since he was Talentless, he was worthless. And she had called him evil.</p><p>
  <b> <em>I hope that you burn</em> </b>
</p><p>The flames erupted all over his body, first the carpet catching, then the walls. They spread and spread, rapidly eating their way toward Jolie, greedy for more. She backed up, pressing her back against the door.</p><p>Fear tortured Brant’s face, panic in his eyes. “Jolie, we’re working to save everyone.” The flames were nearly at Jolie’s feet now.</p><p>“Jolie!” he yelped, trying to fight his way through the wall of flame toward her. The flames bit the side of his face, and he jumped away. His eyes caught on the window next to him, and he ran to it and threw it open.</p><p>She turned and frantically fiddled with the doorknob. It was jammed. “What are you doing?” she screamed, tears pouring down her face.</p><p>“Jolie.” Tears began to pour from Brant’s eyes, evaporating almost instantly. “I’m sorry.”</p><p>And he jumped out the window, leaving her to burn.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>